Missouri eases into bye week

Sunday

Sep 26, 2010 at 12:01 AMSep 26, 2010 at 7:01 AM

Joe Walljasper

If the point of nonconference games is to get a football team ready for what comes next, Missouri is totally prepared for a bye week after yesterday’s 51-13 victory over Miami (Ohio). For football any more comfortable than this, you would need a couch and remote control.

The Tigers took just eight seconds to score their first touchdown on cornerback Carl Gettis’ fumble return. By the middle of the third quarter, Blaine Gabbert and most of the starters had their feet up. And with 10 minutes left in the game, backup quarterback James Franklin was under direct orders to not score a touchdown — repeat, do not score a touchdown — as he leaned into the line on four straight sneaks.

Realistically, it probably wasn’t even Missouri’s toughest day of the week. That was Tuesday, when Coach Gary Pinkel, who described himself as sleep-starved and cranky after last week’s close call against San Diego State, ordered up a physical practice. The workout claimed one victim — wide receiver Jerrell Jackson suffered a thigh bruise that kept him out of yesterday’s game — but the message was received.

“They said, ‘We’re getting into practice, and we’re going to work, because we’re not going to have another game like that where we just don’t execute,’ ” wideout T.J. Moe said. “They were on us.”

The coaches weren’t the only ones on edge after Moe’s 68-yard touchdown reception in the final minute saved the Tigers from an embarrassing upset to the Aztecs.

“Nobody was happy this week,” Moe said. “Players weren’t happy either. You never want to have a last-second victory. It’s nice to win the game, but you don’t want it to come down to that.”

That 27-24 victory, coupled with an unimpressive 23-13 win over Illinois in the season opener, raised questions about whether the Tigers were remotely deserving of their No. 24 ranking in the coaches’ poll. This nonconference slate was supposed to be a parade, not a death march.

On paper, at least, Miami figured to be roughly equivalent to San Diego State or Illinois. The RedHawks had hung tough with mistake-prone Florida in the season opener and beat Eastern Michigan and Colorado State. But they were not competitive yesterday in what was Missouri’s most complete and convincing victory of a 4-0 nonconference season.

MU’s defense, even without injured star Aldon Smith, continued its season-long solid play by limiting Miami to 70 rushing yards. In addition to Gettis’ TD return, defensive end Michael Sam appeared to take an interception back for a touchdown, but the return was nullified by an illegal — and unnecessary — block.

Missouri’s much-maligned running game gouged the RedHawks for a season-high 236 yards. The top four tailbacks — De’Vion Moore, Kendial Lawrence, Henry Josey and Marcus Murphy — each had a run of at least 25 yards and each scored one touchdown. Wide receiver Wes Kemp, whose importance to the team as a blocker should not be minimized, got to have some fun with three receptions for 43 yards and a score. It was a day of diversity for an offense that had been leaning too heavily on the passing game in general and Moe and Michael Egnew in particular.

As for the negatives? Well, Grant Ressel did clank an extra point off the right upright, ending Missouri’s streak of 252 successful PATs. But that was about it.

In fact, there was so little to nitpick that the only interesting debate after the game was whether it was more embarrassing to an opponent to run four straight quarterback sneaks in an effort not to score rather than just letting the backups do their best.

If it’s the thought that counts, I give Pinkel credit for trying to keep the score down, but if I were the opposing coach, I would feel worse being the guest of honor at a pity party that early in the game. Miami Coach Michael Haywood wasn’t offended. In his postgame comments, he called Pinkel’s move a “respectful thing,” ending the day as it began, on a comfortable note.